beautiful day for biking

Yesterday was 79 degrees, 79% relative humidity, calm..... ideal conditions. Emily (the talented photographer) took this shot of me just before I started my ride. I needed a photo to put in the updated bio for the Burke Alumni website.

Next week is the 40th reunion of the first graduating class from Harry S. Burke HS. Still trying to decide if I should travel up to Omaha for any of the events.

Animated Baby Countdown

Check regularly as cartoon baby will grow too

Full Weekend

Well you saw Emily's blog about the drag races. Oh and did we mention it was loud. We may not be gearheads but we did have fun. The day started with pugging. A group from the studio work mixing and bagging to reclaim over 500 pounds of clay. As soon as we finished, we loaded up to take art over to a yarn shop in Delano called the Twist. Jill is the featured artist this month so we had to set up samples of heer work for display. Eric and Gene, studio members, helped hang the art including framed drawings and pottery.










Then on Sunday morning I road 60 miles on my bicycle in the Mowbray Metric. This is an annual event that since 1983 takes place each July in McPherson, KS. Along with 97 others, we started in McPherson a town about an hour north of Wichita, then road through Hesston and Moundridge then back to McPherson for lunch. Good thing we finished before the sun blazed up over 100 degrees in the afternoon. Since it was so hot, we needed to be inside where it was air conditioned. So Oma, Opa and Sheila took Allison and Kent to see Kung Fu Panda (Wall-E was sold out).

Bowling in Wichita

Here are some photos from Shawn and Sasha's visit to Wichita. We were lucky enough to have them for a week and Opa took us bowling. The girls got pooped out and laid down right on the alley. DaRonn, I got the high score of the day at 128, Ali bowled a 76 by herself (with bumpers).

Drag Races Saturday Night!

Dad, Kent, Allison and I (Emily) enjoyed some great racing on Saturday night! Terry introduced us to the races but because of his knee could not join us :( Saturday was the Summer Nationals - the biggest event of the year! We saw Pro Mods, Top Fuels, and Jet Cars. If you don't know what they are, don't worry, I didn't either until I met Terry but now I'm in love (with Terry and the races). Here are some photos from the fun, fast, fueled night.

Terry's Surgery

Hey Fam! I just wanted to fill you in about Terry. To catch you up if you don't know (in a nut shell): he paints cars, he was standing on a stand painting the roof of a suburban when the stand collapsed, he fell to the concrete floor and hurt his knee, elbow and back. This happened May 22nd and it has been a tedious process working with workman's comp and getting to all the right doctors. Today he had surgery on his knee. They went in with a scope and scraped down the torn meniscus and some damage on his knee cap. We arrived at the surgery center at 7:00 am and were home by 12:30 pm. He was knocked out for it and is now in bed doped up on meds. Wednesday he goes to physical therapy and should be weight bearing then. Please keep him in your prayers as his knee mends and during the procedures to look at his back and elbow. He has hired a lawyer to help him handle the workman's comp people, they were a pain to deal with. He has been off work since the accident two months ago. Workman's comp is paying while he's out but he is still stressed about his workplace and the feelings toward him and about money. We are happy this important step is done (surgery) and pray for a smooth recovery. Thank you. I love you all!

fireworks in Omaha

While we were in Omaha, Oma, Opa and Kent watched fireworks with Shawn, Nick and Sasha.

Olympic Swim Trials

On the 4th of July Jill and I watched some of the swimming at the Quest Center in Omaha.

Happy Birthday Sasha!

Happy Birthday Sweet Sasha! I pray that you are blessed on this day that you are two.

Much Love,
Tia Angie

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dad, I am so glad that God gave me to you. You are a great dad.

You are also a fun loving kind of guy. So I thought I might suggest a party game: a variation of 20 questions. Simply put, I ask you 20 questions and you answer them (smile).

You can answer them here in the comments, or make a whole new post with them or send them by email, or whatever. I just had some things I was curious about to get to know you better.

I love you!!!

1. What is your favorite birthday memory?
2. If you could relive one year of your life with the knowledge and experience of 'now', yet the body and opportunities of 'then', which would it be?
3. How old were you when you learned to ride a bike?
4. Who was your childhood hero or idol?
5. Do you have any heroes in your life now? If so who?
6. What is your dream vacation?
7. What is your dream vehicle to drive?
8. How old were you when you met mom?
9. What was your first impression of mom?
10. What was mom's first impression of you?
11. What is your favorite time of the year and why?
12. What is your favorite holiday and why?
13. If you had to choose between a career as a cyclist or a photographer and you were guaranteed success and a huge salary which would you choose?
14. What do you think people will remember you for?
15. What is your greatest vacation memory?
16. What is your greatest 'date with mom' (even if it was before she was a mom) memory?
17. Who was your first friend that you can remember?
18. If you could cure any disease which would it be?
20. What are you most proud about?

Photo Request

Hello Family!

We are now in the birthday rush of our family. Most of the birthdays are stacked one after the other from May to December. The only months we skip are January and April. We have been blogging as a family now for a year and a half. I thought it would be fun to do a different sort of photo collection on our side bar. Let me know what you think, please.

Here is my idea. I thought it would be fun to put up baby pictures. I know that this will require some digging for some of us. But even if it is a snap shot of a snap shot I think it would be fun to see as we are flipping through the birthdays.

Also - I think that it would be fun to have wedding pictures posted by our anniversaries. Scanned or whatever.

Let me know what you are thinking and if you are all for it. You can even start emailing me the pictures so I can post them to: angielwashington @ gmail. com

Oh - and before I sign off I had one more request. Please don't forget to post about your Fourth of July and birthday festivities. Thanks, it means alot to me!

Oma and Ali's Butterfly Adventure (Ali's camera)

Mom's Shop Link

Here's the Link:

Jillhoutz.etsy.com

Mom's Shop

Take a look at the shop I am creating on Etsy. It is starting with one item, but it will grow to include all of my work that is for sale, and any thing that Em might want to sell. Fairy Sasha is my icon, isn't she so cute!
If you see any product in my shop that you want to have, let me know and I will pull it for you. Watch as it grows.

MacKenzie's ticker

Check out MacKenzie's ticker on the birthday list.

We are so excited for a new little Smith!

Happy Birthday Angie!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGIE/TIA!!!

It was cool to hear all about your plans to celebrate. I hope that this is a great day for you and that this year to come is the best one yet.
Sasha wishes you happy birthday also. and if MacKenzie could she would too. did you know that we are having another girl? MacKenzie Jo Smith, due September 29th. you still have the corner market on boys.
Hugs and Kisses on your big day.
Love Shawn

Newborn Blog

Hello family! To celebrate my birthday my wonderful husband has given me exactly what I requested: a domain! Yay! You will now find my personal blog at:

www.angiewashington.com

So cool! I am so excited! There are some fun features. You can sign up to receive my posts in your email inbox. You can browse around on the different pages (the tabs under the banner picture link to those different pages). It’s altogether just a ton of fun.

Other fun stuff we are doing to celebrate my second Sweet Sixteen are… A friend, Denise, is taking just me out to lunch today. We will be dining as a family before church something quick and easy. Then on Saturday after the kids go to bed some missionary friends are coming over for Chinese food and card games. That will be a good time.

Hope you are all well.
Love,
Angie

Father's Day Poem

Dad you are the best.
You warm me like a nest.

I love you alot.
We are like a knot.

Because we're tied together.
And I feel much better.

Thank you for loving me.
You're making me feel free.

Artwork and accompanying poem by: Raimy Olivia Washington (age 10)



Artwork by Timothy Aaron Washington (age 8)

Happy Father's Day!

First I would like to wish all our father's a happy fathers day. Each of you enhance our family just by being a part of it. Especially the father head, Dad, this post is for you and all that you do.

Dad, I was thinking about you the other day only to more deeply recognize how wonderful you are. You truly are a man of many talents, who isn't afraid to jump in and get his hands dirty to get the job done, who knows what it takes to keep a household in working order and how to keep his family happy.

Some say that the heart of the home is the kitchen, where all gather to gab and feast, I say there is an alternate location for home's heart (at least our home) - the garage. It is the marrow of the house's regeneration, the go-to place for each family member's problems, it is full of surprises but one truth seems constant - "Dad probably has one."

Aside from the garage you are the glue that keeps our family together and the lighthouse for each member to be guided by.

I appreciate your role in my life.

Thank you, Dad. I love you!

Sea Turtles by: Raimy

The Sea Turtle
On Thursday I wrote a little thing about “Sea Turtles”. This is what I wrote:

“The Sea Turtle”
The Sea Turtle is a very good swimmer and they live in Seas. When they lay eggs they can lay about 50-100 eggs at a time. When the baby sea turtles are born they go straight to the sea. But some times they get eaten by birds. When the babies get to the sea they eat jellyfish and swim really well.

And I liked learning it. It was so much fun. And this is how I imagined the Sea Turtles.